If we want to write 0.00005485 is engineering notation, what is the power for 10?
Shouldn't it be 6 because the question said engineering notation
I got it wrong the correct answer is 6
To express a number in engineering notation, we need to write it in the form of "a x 10^b," where 'a' is a number between 1 and 10 (inclusive), and 'b' is an integer.
In the given number, 0.00005485, we need to move the decimal point to the right until we have a number between 1 and 10. By doing this, we can determine the power of 10 required.
Starting with 0.00005485:
Moving the decimal point to the right once, we get 0.0005485. This is still less than 1, so we move the decimal point one more time to the right.
Moving the decimal point to the right twice, we get 0.005485. This is still less than 1, so we move the decimal point again.
Moving the decimal point to the right three times, we get 0.05485. This is greater than 1, but less than 10, so we have found our 'a' value.
Now, we count the number of times we moved the decimal point to the right, which is three times. This gives us the exponential part, or the power of 10, denoted by 'b'. In this case, b = -3.
Therefore, we can write 0.00005485 in engineering notation as 5.485 x 10^-5.